Harrison Students Win Top Awards in Congressional Art Competition

Marina Barrientos-Allende, 17, a junior at Harrison School for the Arts, had tears in her eyes as she took photos with her parents and U.S. Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Lakeland, after winning the 2024 Congressional Art Competition at the Polk Museum of Art.

“To me, it says a lot that resonates with me personally,” Franklin said, looking at Barrientos-Allende’s acrylic painting “Memory,” which depicts an older veteran in a wheelchair looking back on his time in combat, a tattered U.S. flag flying above him.

“I get a lot of chances to see veterans like this in Washington, wheelchair bound,” Franklin said. “We all have those things we think back on. As a very young man, he was injured and carried that with him every day for the rest of his life.”

This year’s theme is “Freedom Is Not Free” and many of the winning works depicted soldiers or veterans.

“When I heard freedom isn’t free, I immediately thought of homeless veterans,” Barrientos-Allende said. “I wanted to capture their mindset because all their sacrifices and they’ve gone through is for nothing. They made all these sacrifices and get nothing in return.”

Alex Rich, executive director and chief curator of the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College, selected the winners. Layla Sierra, a ninth grader at Harrison School For the Arts, won second place, and Mariyah Grant, a Harrison 11th-grader, won third place.

Honorable mentions are:

Erika Maya Lugo, ninth grade, Okechobee Freshman Campus
Andrea Mayna, 11th grade, Harrison School for the Arts
Sydney Devoe, 10th grade, Harrison School for the Arts
Madison Finder, 10th grade, Harrison School for the Arts
Evelyn Hoffert, 11th grade, Harrison School for the Arts

Barrientos-Allende and all other Congressional Art Contest winners from throughout the country will be honored at a ceremony June 27 in Washington, D.C., where her artwork will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year. She said she is hoping to receive a scholarship to continue her art studies at a college or university after graduating from Harrison.